First, a note on the future: My thoughts on the final coming tomorrow. For now, I’ve already tipped my hand on Slate and in this comment on Alan’s post, which takes some stats out of context to tell a different story about Spain. I love you, Netherlands, in all ways, but for the next 48 hours my tears look like tildes and upside-down exclamation marks. In the meantime, I’m a week late on links.
I did a piece for Slate on the history of Dutch football and why rooting for Spain is the best way to honor it. By simple virtue of the fact that you’re here, you probably already know who Rinus Michels is, and there wasn’t room to go into points like Cruyff’s role in forging Spanish tactics. But there’s some significant RoP doctrine toward the end.
I also write a flurry of posts for Yahoo!, on subjects ranging from Italian xenophobia to heartwarming bus tours to terrifying smackdowns in the psychic animal world:
Many great things have been written elsewhere while I was putting off rounding up the links, and at this stage of saturation and weariness I won’t remember even most of what’s mattered during that time. Recent goodnesses that come immediately to mind include Fredorrarci’s monumental post on the World Cup and mortality, Tom on whether Spain are boring, Alex Massie on the Unofficial Football World Championship (an absolutely fantastic subplot), and David Winner on cross-pollination between the Netherlands and Germany (a taste of what might have happened had the ’74 rematch come through).
Oh, and Twitter is fun. Get in on it.
by Brian Phillips · July 9, 2010
I didn’t want to get drowned by the Yahoo commentators, but why are you so opposed to Dirk Kuyt being the physical and aesthetic embodiment of the beautiful game?
I really don’t want this to retrogress to one of those religious debates about whether he’s the actual flesh incarnate, a mere prophet, etc., but you have to admit he is 95% footballer and maybe 5% athlete.
@Elliott Exactly. Can you imagine what the 70’s Holland team would be like if they had someone as unselfish as Kuyt? He wins balls, runs, stretches the field, and will only rest when everything is done. I want to see Elia tomorrow. These next Euros are going to be fun.
@Elliott Oh, I was just kidding around with Kuyt. I appreciate what he does for the Dutch. I might change your breakdown to 15% footballer, 5% athlete, 110% guy who is willing to run straight through the advertising hoardings if it gives his team any advantage whatsoever. In fact, when he finishes a game without running through the advertising hoardings, he always looks a little disappointed.
@Brian Phillips Hmm, to me your Slate article didn’t read like an explanation why you are rooting for Spain – Spain was barely mentioned. You implied that Holland needs another defeat to put them back in their place, since the defeat of 1974 had made them so entertaining to you. Rooting for Spain because you like their style is great, but this article just came across as nasty, sorry.
@Sjors I’m writing the positive post about Spain’s style for RoP even as we speak. But my case for Spain really does start with the Netherlands, because I would so easily have cheered for them instead had things gone a little differently.
The last thing I wanted was for my Slate piece to seem nasty, but honestly, you’re misrepresenting it. I never said that I was entertained by the ’74 team because it lost, I said I was entertained by the ’74 team because it played mesmerizing football. And I never said I wanted the current team to be “put back in their place,” I simply said that their style doesn’t quite do it for me and tried to explain why I think that matters. In general, Holland is one of my favorite teams in the world, and that hasn’t changed. I’m just going with Spain in this match for the reasons I listed.
@Brian Phillips I share with Brian’s disdain for the modern pollution of the 74 Dutch footballing ideal. On the one hand, the overlapping and attacking wingback has become a staple of modern football – we take Maicon and Roberto Carlos for granted. On the other hand, the deployment of 2 or 3 holding midfielders who contribute little offensively to cover for attacking fullbacks is a modern development and, from the viewer’s perspective, is a total buzzkill.
One has to admit, though, that Spain does deploy both Busquest and Xabi Alonso, not exactly firecrackers full of offensive forays. I yearn for the Marcos Senna days, when he defended by himself and Iniesta and Xavi had a license to ill…
@Brian Phillips I understand where you’re coming from, but this really was the message that came across in combination with the David Winner article you linked to: the 1974 defeat made them favour style over winning, and now that they claim to want to win more than anything, all football fans must root for them to lose (the title wasn’t “why all football fans should root for Spain”) .
I’m not as big an expert as you, and I’m too young to remember 1974 and only vaguely remember my dad crying in 1978 over something I didn’t quite understand the significance of at the time. I think I understand it now. I do remember all our subsequent world cups pretty well, and the only major difference in style I can see is that we don’t have 3 world class strikers in form this time. I also regret that our opponents didn’t open up for nice 6 – 1 defeats this tournament, but I don’t see why that should make all football fans root for another uneventful 1 – 0 victory for Spain either.